PRE-SEASON isn't generally a time for simmering tension between rival teams, even less so when the two men brought face to face to represent their clubs before they do battle are the best of mates.

Which made the news conference ahead of Friday night's NAB Cup triple-header involving Melbourne, Richmond and North Melbourne just like hundreds of chats Troy Chaplin and David Rodan have had over the years, but for the different colours they had on.

After sharing a locker room, innumerable training sessions and a grand final appearance over six years at Port Adelaide, Chaplin and Rodan will be sharing a home ground this season, but that's all, the former now a key defender with the Tigers, and goalsneak Rodan entering a 12th AFL season with his third club, MCG co-tenant Melbourne.

Chaplin's wife, Lisa, and Rodan's wife, Carla, are also best friends, the pair in Adelaide once nearly engineering a house purchase that would have had the two families living only a couple of hundred metres apart.

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''That's sort of gone out the window now … we're in Melbourne, I'm in the eastern suburbs in a big mansion, and 'D-Rod' is slumming it in the western suburbs,'' Chaplin laughed. ''We're pretty close mates, and obviously with young families the girls like to get together and chew the fat a fair bit, so it's good to know someone else is over here that you can catch up with.''

Not come game time this week, with Chaplin still recovering from knee surgery, though he's keen to put his inside knowledge of his former teammate to good use. ''We've got a little bit of dirt on each other, but I'm not really one to mouth off on the footy field, so I might have to word up a few of the other boys.''

Rodan, 29, is still buzzing at the opportunity to rekindle a career that many thought finished when he was delisted by Port Adelaide at the end of last season.

''They were interesting times,'' he said. ''I wasn't sure how other clubs would react and if they'd be keen, but it was comforting to know a few were interested, and Melbourne stood out. I'm very happy with where I'm at.

''We've had 14 changes to the list, and with that, you've got to get used to playing with each other, and I guess over four to five months you can get that to a certain degree, but playing games is a whole new thing, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow night.

''The more times you put younger players out there in those situations they're only going to get better.''

Chaplin, meanwhile, knows enough about Richmond already to know the perennial weight of expectation that hovers over the Tigers.

''We're under no illusions that it's going to be difficult,'' he said. ''You've got eight teams who played finals last year that are going to be very strong again, then teams like Carlton and Essendon and ourselves also pushing to get in. Who's going to drop out? There's no easybeats in the AFL any more.''